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Friday, May 4, 2012
Today’s Tweets:
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Need a dancer preview of Sunday’s Solo Strips @xlnightclub benefiting @BCEFA? here’s a peek by @queerty • • • Mike Bartlett, whose play “COCK” is now in NY, gets a great review for “Love, Love, Love” @cockfightplay via @guardian • • • Q&A: Caught in the Act with… Josh Young @SUPERSTARBway • • • @RTC_NYC Roundabout’s THE COMMON PURSUIT begins previews tonight via @sharethis • • • The Playwright Who Chose That Title. “COCK” featured in The New York Times. @cockfightplay • • •
What Facebook’s Critics Don’t Understand: It’s a Platform, Not a Publisher
You Cannot Measure or Judge Facebook The Same Way Because the Rules for Platforms Are Different
AdAge.com/Digital Next – by IAN SCHAFER
A lot has been made about how Facebook has been letting brands down. About how doubt has been created in the minds of marketers. About how Facebook isn’t holding up its end of the bargain in its advertising transactions. And about how this doesn’t bode well for its IPO.
The Wall Street Journal says, “…some advertisers with big spending accounts are wondering whether they’re getting their money’s worth.”
The Atlantic reports that “…advertisers have started to figure out that Facebook’s ad strategy isn’t all that strategic. The social network has used its huge 800 million-strong audience to lure advertisers, but these companies want more than the feeling that ‘engagement,’ ‘sponsored posts’ and ‘likes’ work. They want metrics and results — something Facebook can’t and doesn’t measure.”
In any other previous advertising era, this would have spelled doom for a publisher. It’s why advertisers, investors, analysts and the media are sounding alarms now. But there’s something inherently wrong with these arguments: FACEBOOK IS NOT A PUBLISHER. FACEBOOK IS A PLATFORM. And it’s the way people spend the most time with digital media.
This represents such an important shift in the digital advertising economy, that even Google (who redefined the ad economy with AdWords) is attempting to become (or at least build) platforms in Google+, YouTube, and Google Docs (yes, that’s three different platforms, and another opinion piece). And the differences between the publishing and platform environments are striking.
The publishing marketplace is dependent upon the scarcity of impressions — the ad inventory, and the basic unit of advertising. On Facebook, impressions are endless, created by nearly every engagement, and “engagement” on Facebook can mean just about any kind of interaction or exchange of data.
To read this article in its entirety, click the link below
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/facebook-s-critics-understand-a-platform-a-publisher/234570/